The Function of Carnival in the Mask by M. Crnjanski and the Great Gatsby by F. S. Fitzgerald Cover Image

Функција карневала у делима Маска М. Црњанског и Велики Гетсби Ф. С. Фицџералда
The Function of Carnival in the Mask by M. Crnjanski and the Great Gatsby by F. S. Fitzgerald

Author(s): Ana M. Sitarica
Subject(s): Serbian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Матица српска

Summary/Abstract: By analyzing carnival understanding of the world the paper will attempt to show connections between the play The Mask by Crnjanski and the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. By the comparative analysis of The Mask and The Great Gatsby focusing on carnival reality we discover numerous elements that connect those two works, which will be dealt with in detail in this paper. Observing reality through the prism of carnival in these works we can undoubtedly recognize the testimony of liberation from official ties, making the other world and life, and the acceptance of world only in its carnival spirit. The interpretation of the functions of carnival will shed light on the life shaped by mask in these works. Special attention will be paid to the ways and forms of liberation in carnival, masks as instruments for metamorphosis, distorton of disguise, ambivalent game of throning, dethroning and carnival sacrifice. By deeper analysis of, at first, literary characters and other structural parts, at first glance obvious topic of shallowness shown by taking life lightly, we conclude that what actually links these two works is that eve rything is a delusion, a pretense, a trick, an illusion and nothingness.

  • Issue Year: 65/2017
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 921-939
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Serbian